Yamim Nora'im Days of Awe
by Mara Greengrass
Summary: The Rosh Hashana sermon of Rabbi Jacob Bloom of Congregation Beth Tikva.


TITLE: Yamim Nora'im (Days of Awe)  
DISCLAIMER: The X-Men and the X-Men movieverse belong to Marvel and Twentieth-Century Fox and other entities with expensive lawyers. Congregation Beth Tikva, Rabbi Bloom, and his congregants are from my imagination. Other people mentioned are real, including Noah Golinkin, who would have loved that I included him.  
CONTINUITY/SPOILERS: This takes place somewhere in the middle of X3, but has only mild spoilers.  
NOTES: At the end, you will find a glossary of any terms related to Judaism not already translated in the text. Also, I should note that The Rabbinical Assembly's statement is almost a direct quote, but not quite. Gigantic thanks to Mofic, Adnheming, and BlueBraces for betareading.

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Rosh Hashana sermon, 5769  
Rabbi Jacob Bloom, Congregation Beth Tikva, Rockville, MD 

L'shana tova tikatevu v'tehatemu. It's good to see all of you here on this rainy Rosh Hashana, in our renovated sanctuary. Thanks to Simon Katz for doing such a nice job with Shacharit this morning, yasher koach, Simon. And I want to remind everyone that Judy Dettmiller will be giving a talk before Mincha at 2:30 in the library on "Women and the Minyan: A Conservative Perspective." I think Judy will be doing question and answer afterward, right? She's nodding, so that's yes.

I know all of you are eager to finish the service, so why don't I get started? Let me begin with a story from the Talmud.

In the first century, there were two great rabbis, Hillel and Shammai. One day, a skeptic came to Shammai and said to him, "Teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot." This made Shammai mad, because he felt he was being mocked, and he chased the man away.

The man went to see Hillel, and asked him to teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel replied, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary; go and learn it."

What does that have to do with Rosh Hashana? Well, I'll get there. Just give me a little time.

Rosh Hashana is a holy day that wears many hats: the Day of Judgement, the Day of Shofar Blowing, the Day of Remembrance, and, of course, the New Year.

Many people use this holiday to make resolutions for the coming year, and I would like to propose something to be added to that list, along with "lose weight" and "spend more time with the kids."

I bet you think I'm going to say, "give more money to the shul." No, I leave that to the president! Maybe you think I'm going to say you should come to services more often. Okay, that would be nice too.

But on this Day of Judgement, the beginning of the Days of Awe, in this time when we practice teshuva (repentance), tefilah (prayer), and tzedakah (charity), I would like to ask you to resolve to fight for equal rights for mutants. Spend these Days of Awe asking yourself what you can do.

I agonized for a long time over whether to write this sermon. The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has not issued any responsa related to the status of mutants in Jewish law. However, until such time as the Conservative movement has a definitive position, it is my responsibility to provide guidance to this congregation based on my understanding of halakha.

I searched my heart and the Torah, and found it was time I spoke out.

While the committee has yet to rule, the Rabbinical Assembly has issued the following statement:

"We, the Rabbinical Assembly,  
1) Support full civil equality for mutants in our national life, and 2) Deplore the violence against mutants in our society, and 3) Reiterate that, as are all Jews, mutants are welcome as members in our congregations, and 4) Call upon our synagogues and the arms of our movement to increase our awareness, understanding and concern for our fellow Jews who are mutants."

The Torah has nothing to say specifically about mutants, I know. But Leviticus 19:17 tells us "Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart" and Leviticus 19:18 gives us the oft-quoted "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

It doesn't say, "Love thy neighbor, unless his daughter has gills." It doesn't say, "Thou shalt not hate thy brother, unless his skin is green."

Our covenant with Hashem is based on our willingness to be a light to all nations, to participate in tikkun olam, repairing the world through social action.

In these Days of Awe, it is incumbent upon us as Jews to remember that Hashem has, for whatever reason, allowed mutants to exist, and all of us are 'b'tzelem elohim,' created in the image of the Divine.

This means that we all have that spark of divinity in us, and it is our job to find it and nurture it in others and in ourselves. Our goal is no less than perfection.

Jews have always stood at the forefront of civil rights movements. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched arm-in-arm with Martin Luther King. Locally, Rabbi Noah Golinkin, who some of you know was a good friend of mine, fought for integration of schools and housing in DC and Northern Virginia. The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has spent decades fighting all forms of discrimination, has a staff list that sounds like a shul board: co-founder Joseph J. Levin Jr., Howard Mandell, Rhonda Brownstein, Mark Potok...

And I could go on.

If you've turned on a television or read a newspaper in recent days, you will have heard of a "cure," created by Worthington Industries, a cure that promises to take away those pesky mutations, save us from having to see new aspects of the Divine.

"It's purely voluntary," we're told. "Nobody's being forced to get the shot. Nobody's being forced to wear the yellow star or the pink triangle."

Oh, pardon me. I must be mixing up my historical events. It's true that nobody is being forced to wear a yellow star to show they're a mutant. But are we so far from that?

A study of recent history shows that saying "Never again" is easy--keeping that promise is hard. Again and again, we have cried out against oppression in other nations: the Sudan, Yugoslavia, South Africa, Russia. And millions have died.

Will mutants have to be decimated before we acknowledge their cries? Yes, there are mutants who want to receive this cure and we must respect their wishes, but we must be sure that we as a society have not pressured them into this. We must be sure that this cure is never forced upon the innocent, the unwilling victim of our own fears.

Throughout our history, many Jews have died rather than convert. They have embraced martyrdom rather than renounce who they are. Let us not force this same choice on mutants.

If you recall, I began this sermon with the story of the man who demanded to learn Torah while standing on one foot. The great Rabbi Hillel told him "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary; go and learn it."

Twenty centuries later, have we truly learned Torah? Or are we as ignorant as that skeptic?

--end--

Glossary

_Rosh Hashana_ One of the High Holy Days, the beginning of the Days of Awe. (Although it lasts two days by the secular calendar, Rosh Hashana is considered one long 48-hour day)  
_L'shana tova tikatevu v'tehatemu_ "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year," referring to the idea that during the Days of Awe, God decides everyone's fate for the coming year.  
_Shacharit_ Morning prayers  
_Yasher koach_ Well done  
_Mincha_ The afternoon service.  
_Minyan_ A quorum of ten Jewish adults (or ten men, depending on the branch of Judaism) whose presence is required for certain parts of the service.  
_Talmud_ A record of rabbinic discussions of Jewish law, ethics, customs, and stories, which carry nearly the force of law.  
_Torah_ The first five books of the Bible.  
_Shofar_ A ram's horn, used for ceremonial purposes on the High Holidays.  
_Shul_ The Yiddish word for synagogue.  
_Committee on Jewish Law and Standards_ This is a committee of the Rabbinical Assembly that sets policy for RA rabbis and for the Conservative movement.  
_Rabbinical Assembly_ The international association of Conservative rabbis.  
_Responsa_ Written decisions or rulings of a rabbinical body of authority.  
_Halakha_ The collective body of Jewish law, which covers both religious and everyday life.  
_Hashem_ God  
_Tikkun olam_ Repairing the world (through social action)

I borrowed ideas and occasionally short phrases from:  
Rabbi Steven Pik-Nathan, Main Line Reform Temple, Narberth, PA   
Jill Jacobs, rabbinical student, Jewish Theological Seminary   
Rabbi Lewis John Eron, Jewish Family and Children's Service, Cherry Hill, NJ   
Rabbi David Golinkin, the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem   
Rabbi David Thomas, Beth El, Sudbury, MA   
The Rabbinical Assembly of Conservative Judaism   
Judaism 101 at 


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